RETURNING TO COLLEGE? HERE’S OUR ADVICE

Posted on 26 March 2017 by Nick Chubb

Whether you work at sea in the Royal Navy, Merchant Navy, or Fishing Fleet, chances are you will have to return to formal education at some point. It can be a daunting experience especially if you've not hit the books for a long time. We asked our community for one piece of advice they would give to seafarers going back to education and distilled all of it down to these key points.

If you could give one piece of advice to seafarers returning to college/education after a long absence what would it be and why? #seafarers

— Marine Society (@MarineSociety) March 28, 2017

Commit to a goal

More often than not education is a means to an end. There is usually a reason for going back to school whether it's to study for your next ticket, get a promotion, move ashore, earn more money, or be able to help your children with their homework. Why you're studying is the most important thing to define before going back to school; everything from course selection to timescale, to financial commitments, should all be defined by why you're studying, not what you're studying.

@MarineSociety 3. Don't forget your end goal- it's a lot of work & some days you might want to give up, but don't! The rewards are worth it!

— casbeyond (@casbeyond) March 28, 2017

Knowing why will help you keep going when you're banging your head against a brick wall trying to do spherical trigonometry. Knowing why will also help you define success; you may find you get that promotion without sitting your A-level physics exam or find that having a Master's ticket alone doesn't mean you will be offered a command. Whatever your reasons for going back to school, make sure you define your end goal and commit to it.

Go back to basics before you start

If you've not written an essay or report for a long time or haven't done any algebra for years it makes sense to brush up on those basic skills before your first day of study. Starting a new course is daunting enough, there's nothing worse than feeling you're already behind on day one.

Pretty much any course you choose to do will assume some level of prior knowledge and the vast majority of courses will have some sort of maths and English work. There are lots of ways to quickly improve your maths and if you want help with numeracy or literacy our courses can help get you back up to speed. If you want to brush up on a particular subject there's almost definitely a book (or books) out there that can help too.

Learn to Manage distractions

I'd be willing to bet that the last time you were in education you were young and carefree. I'd also be willing to bet that now you're returning to education you have a husband/wife/partner/boss/kids/pets/job/mortgage/[insert responsibility here] to distract you from your studies. Conventional study wisdom says to block out all distractions, unfortunately, that's not practical when other people depend on you. Rather than try and shut out all distractions acknowledge that they are inevitable and find ways to manage them. To do this you need a lot of self-discipline (no Xbox) but you also need to manage the expectations of those around you making it clear that your designated study time should (as far as possible) be sacrosanct.

Plan

Around the same time as Marine Society was founded Benjamin Franklin said "By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail", the sentence still rings as true today as it did nearly 300 years ago. Creating a plan that takes into account all of the aforementioned distractions and gives you enough time to cover all of the course content is vital. This includes planning rewards for your hard work with rest and relaxation. If you're embarking on a serious qualification you should be planning your study at three levels:

• Long-term planning - what you plan on studying in the next year or two with your end goal in mind
• Medium-term planning - what you plan on studying in the next week or two with your work/family/life commitments in mind.
• Short-term planning - what you plan on studying today or in your next session with a specific topic area or achievable goal in mind.

Give yourself enough flexibility to deal with life's curveballs and keep thinking of the end goal when sticking to the plan gets tough.

Seek support

You're not alone and you're going down a well-trodden path. There will be people in your network who've been where you are and come out the other side on top. Whether it's a colleague, friend, or a manager seek out those who have achieved what you're attempting and ask them to mentor you through. If you don't know anyone who can assist we offer information, advice and guidance to any seafarer that wants help with their studies and if you're studying with us you can take advantage of our optional mentoring scheme to help keep you on track. Get in touch with us for more information.

Don't forget that you're not as young as you used to be!

@MarineSociety @casbeyond don't drink like you did when you where first there. It won't end well!!

— Larissa Carey (@MNavyPrincess) March 28, 2017

Have you been back to college? What is your advice for seafarers going back to study? Let us know in the comments section or get in touch on Twitter or Facebook.